CONSUME Or Be Consumed; Hal Hefner Wants This Interview To Wake You Up

Artist Hal Hefner Wants You To CONSUME This Article

The internet is full of a lot of BS. But just when you think the only reason Al Gore invented it was to share cat videos on Facebook, the medium redeems itself and provides you with a glimmer of hope.

Enter artist Hal Hefner and his CONSUME series.

“The message is, we either have to CONSUME, or we are going to be consumed. What it’s about is, I feel like the human race has reached a pinnacle of materialism, consumption, being bombarded by information, and it’s really based in fear. CONSUME is my response to how ridiculous that all is, as well as a rebel call to arms for anyone who is sick of it.”

CONSUME is centered on popular culture, specifically entertainment and government. It’s visceral, engaging, and just plain badass. The subjects of CONSUME are reimagined as unfeeling reptilian-like people, mixed with the concept of Carpenter’s aliens from the movie They Live.

“How is her name even acceptable?” Asked Hal about the sexually-charged Nicki Minaj. “It’s not. And that is one of the things that inspired me to do the CONSUME series. My kids were singing Nicki Minaj — I have a daughter that is nine, a daughter that is eight, and a baby boy. The girls were singing “Anaconda” and they thought it was cool and their friends thought it was cool. I said, ‘Do you know what this is about? She’s talking about a dude licking her asshole!’ This is not fucking cool!”

Inspiration

While CONSUME makes a point of drawing attention to the vapid, base-level appeal of current media darlings, Heffner began developing the concept in the 1980s. “At one point as a kid, I had taken Madonna’s True Blue album and drawn her as an alien from They Live and that was really where the concept started, years ago. To me, Madonna was garbage. And I watched all these people love her. ‘Oh my God she’s so this, she so that.’ Does she write her own music? No. Does she play any instruments? No. Is she all about show? Yes. What is she? She’s one big gimmick after another. Low and behold what is she doing today? Putting a grill in her mouth, and having to team up with Nicki Minaj to stay relevant.”

Seven Deadly Sins

“What’s surreal is to see people rally around my art and get it. For example last week, Slash from Guns N’ Roses shared my Nicki Minaj piece on Facebook. Within a matter of three or four hours it had over 10,000 Likes. It’s incredible to see something like that happening and also incredible to see somebody like Slash, who I rocked out to as a rebellious, 14-year-old mullet-wearing kid, sharing my artwork. It is a surreal…surreal…journey, and wow, am I eating some humble pie right now in such a grateful manner.”

Phone Sex

Hefner’s journey started in 1999 when he moved from a small town in upstate New York, to Los Angeles, site unseen. “I decided I was going to move to LA and make a movie, comic books and all sorts of stuff. So I took my dream, packed it into a car and travelled across the country and moved to LA without a job. Looking back on it, it was pretty crazy, pretty ballsy, but as soon as I got to LA I immediately got work. [I was] doing cartoon work for, strangely enough, the back of Penthouse and Hustler magazines doing the 800 numbers. I was designing art for 1-800 number phone ads when people used to use the phone for sex, more so than the computer, so I started doing goofy cartoons. And I think they were pretty excited because I was a Hefner — so they’re like, ‘We’ve got this Hefner and he’s not working for Playboy!’”

Social Activist For Hire

Even though CONSUME could be labeled as apathetic or even negative social commentary rooted in jealousy, Hefner isn’t some sullen artist, taking potshots at people more talented, successful, or adept than he is.

Since moving to Los Angeles he has developed his skill in multiple disciplines and his client list includes Google, Paramount, SYFY Channel, and the NFL. He created Heavy Metal Magazine’s first webcomic called “Gates.” He served as one of the creative strategists for acclaimed director Ridley Scott’s move The Martian, created video game art for THQ, and even wrote a biopic on comedian Bill Hicks. CONSUME series has exposed Hefner to a greater audience than any of the aforementioned projects.

Building An Anti-Brand

“All of those experiences are how CONSUME evolved from this guy in Rochester, New York hoping to make a movie, into this guy who making fun of Kim Kardashian’s ass. Of course, I busted my ass on all this other stuff with moderate success and all of the sudden, I do something making fun of this narcissistic pop culture icon and low and behold, the comedic side of my work is what really helped propel me to where I am today, which is insane.”

iBro

More than anything, Heffner’s art serves to increase awareness and make people active participants in their own lives, rather than blindly ingesting and obeying established social dialogue just because certain opinions are seemingly most popular.